Carbon fiber mandolin

[BlueMountain]

Congratulations, Twizzstyle! You are very ambitious. If you look at this link about Peter Mix's New Millennium mandolin, you'll find some help. There's more available, too. Search here under Mix, MAD, carbon, etc. http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin....=carbon

Flat-topped mandolins need not just tone bars but more serious bracing, or they work sort of like a trampoline (or the head of a banjo). Given that you don't want to remove the top, there are several things you could do to improve the tone a lot. I think it should be possible for you to glue in braces. I don't like to use epoxy on this stuff as it creeps, but maybe it's what you need to use. But Titebond will probably stick to rough CF and resin. Anyway, you could make a couple relatively substantial tone bars, put glue on them, slide them through the F holes, and clamp them in place. These would run from the neck block to the tail block, or nearly. You could also glue in a couple transverse braces--more common for flat-top mandolins from the 20s. Actually, they could run underneath the F holes without problem, though they'd show. If you want, you could even cut a hole in the side and slide them through. Clamping through the F holes would be easy. (This is the sort of clamp to use: http://www.stewmac.com/shop....et.html ). Doing this after the top is attached is a lot easier with a flat top.

Another approach that I've never seen would be to attach the braces to the top of the top, exposed, on each side of the strings. Pretty radical and perhaps pretty ugly. You could also quite easily just saw off most of the top and attach a new top with braces. But I'd try gluing in braces first.

Good luck.

[Twizzstyle]

Actually, as a guitar player, you should have known better than to make a flat carbon-fiber top without bracing.

Yeah, I know Lesson learned...

I thought about putting external bracing, but I think it would just ruin the look too much for me. I may try to clamp something inside, it'll be tricky, but I think its doable.

And I've got the mold, so if I really screw this one up, it wouldn't be too hard to make a whole new one (I'd just need a new neck)

[TEE]

One other thing I noticed that you put the label in the center of the back. It would be seen easier under one of the F holes. I think anyway. Can you read the label?

[coolwood]

I'm sorry that the top of your new mando is pushing in. #Don't feel too bad about omiting the bracing on your carbon fiber mando. #The NewMad mando does not have bracing, but has an arched top to provide support. #The Rainsong guitar has no braces either. #The Rainsong site clearly states, in bold, that thier guitars have no bracing. #Guitar strings pull the top up, however, mando strings push the top down.

I like the carbon fiber instruments. #My wife and I own NewMads and Rainsongs, respectively.

I hope you find a solution, I would love to hear a sound clip of your mando.

Bill

[Bill Snyder]

...#Guitar strings pull the top up, however, mando strings push the top down.

There's your solution for this mandolin. While it is by no means traditional you could use a guitar style bridge on your new mandolin. Ovation does. It won't sound quite the same, but it might work.
If you do this though you need to look upon it as an experiment and realize it might not work.

[Paul Kotapish]

I think BlueMountain's suggestion for adding braces with the top on is a good one. Check out Frank Ford's wizardry on adding a arched brace to an old Gibson A with a sagging top. You could use a similar approach, and it would be much simpler on a flat-top instrument. Not sure the conventional tone-bar-style longitudinal braces will have the same effect on an flat top as they do on an archtop. It could be that a transverse brace will do the job just as well, and might be easier to clamp via the f holes.

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPa....ag.html

[BloozeGit]

I apologise for digging up this thread to ask a non-mando-related question...could any of you folks point me to a good source for these carbon fiber materials?

[JGWoods]

What a nice job! You've got a lot going for you, but, seeing as you are experimenting how about not using epoxy?
I'd be real tempted to screw the top and back on, or use some system for easy dis-assembly so you can try tone bars, x braces, whatever you want simply by popping the top or back off.
Bolt the neck on while you're at it.

It's a wonderful project- best of luck with it.

[Twizzstyle]

I apologise for digging up this thread to ask a non-mando-related question...could any of you folks point me to a good source for these carbon fiber materials?

You can often find good deals on Ebay.

CST is another good place.

http://www.cstsales.com/

As is Aircraft Spruce...

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/

I get most of my other materials (epoxy, etc) from Fiberlay, which is a local company (Seattle) but they also sell stuff online.

[Paul Kotapish]

Twizzstyle,

Any luck with the bracing issue? Did you try the Frank Ford technique (which would be a lot simpler on a flat top)?

Also, have you considered building a simple carbon fiber case? I think there is actually a real market for these. Big Joe and Sam at Pegausus cases have been working on an elaborate carbon fiber version of Sams dandy fiberglass models, but I think there would be an even larger market for a simple carbon fiber coffin case--more or less like the Calton mandolin case, but perhaps a fraction smaller. It looks like building the shell would be something you could easily handle, and if it were outfitted with the same durable-but-lightweight hardware that BAM uses on its high-tech fiber violin and guitar cases, I think you'd have something with a built-in market.

[Twizzstyle]

I decided to not try to fix the bracing issue on this one. I think it'd be more work than its worth, nothing is breaking, it sounds great, and its not super noticeable unless you look at it from the side. For the next one I do I'll probably do an arch top with some bracing.

[Chinslip]

hi twizzstyle...I realize that this thread is a few years old but I recently found it. I have a couple of questions about your mandolin. What weight of cf did you use? And how many layers have you used? I'm planning a project for next winter and trying to learn as much as I can for now...thanks

Norm

[Bill Snyder]

Chinslip, don't be surprised if you do not receive a response. Looking at Twizzstyle's profile shows the last time (s)he logged in was about a year ago.